Pike River Hatchery

[SkunkedAgain]

Very informative, thank you.

[StillFishin']

Yea, great photos and thanks for your time to document it for all of us. I have a favor to ask of you: Could you possibly go back when the eggs hatch and post photos of what happens next? I'm sure we'd all appreciate seeing the whole process.

StillFishin'

[Silver Scale]

Nice job Casey or should I say Kelly.

But I was really hoping to see the big muskie.

[upnorth]

Casey, Thanks for taking the time and effort to put that post together, had to take more than just a few minutes to gather and assemble all that.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

The hatchery will probably be pulling their nets tomorrow.

They had a very good year again!

Cliff

[caseymcq]

Yeah, I can't take credit for taking the photos. My wife took them. She was my insider to getting good photos.

I have a video with the muskie. It was a decent sized one. I stopped by there after you and Mr. Ryan had been there and saw a 32" walleye. That was impressive.

[sachem longrifle]

Quote:

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Here are the pics:

This is the net they set out into the river to funnel the fish in and collect the spawners

The fish are put into a crib to be sorted for the "ripe" fish and "green" fish:

The "green" fish are set aside in a pen to "ripen"

If the "green" fish aren't ripe after four days they are put back into the river to run further up and spawn naturally.

The a ripe female's eggs are gathered in a bowl

Then milt is added

The eggs and milt are then mixed to promote fertilization

A little muck from the river is added and mixed in to coat the eggs and prevent them from sticking together in the hatchery jars.

The excess muck is then rinsed off.

The eggs are then placed in jars

The jars are continually fed fresh water from the river. The water temp is monitored and adjusted appropriately.

Once they hatch the fish will stay in a fry tank until they use up their egg yolk. Afterwards they are either stocked or brought to a rearing pond.

They do get other fish in the nets. Muskies, crappies, pout, a lot of suckers and the occasional bullhead.

This is one example of the great job the the Minnesota DNR fisheries staff is doing to improve the walleye fishing that a majority of us enjoy. This is part of what we are getting when we buy our liscenses.

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I was pursuing a degree in Biology until my advisor told me there was no jobs if I wanted to go into the fisheries. But, boy does that look like a job that the employees must love going to work for

[Black_Bay]

Quote:

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Caseymcq ~ Once they hatch the fish will stay in a fry tank until they use up their egg yolk. Afterwards they are either stocked or brought to a rearing pond.

sachem longrifle ~ I was pursuing a degree in Biology until my advisor told me there was no jobs if I wanted to go into the fisheries. But, boy does that look like a job that the employees must love going to work for

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Casey ~ Actually the crews stock the fry out asap after they hatch. When the fry start hatching they can quickly over populate the fry tanks and need to be stocked out. They'll use up the yolk sac in just a few days and if they don't have a food source available they'll die.

sachem longrifle ~ Ask those guys when is 32 degrees, snowing, and after they had been stripping fish for 2 straight weeks. It's not such a fun job. People always want to work for the DNR on beautiful days but they're never around when it's cold, windy, raining, snowing or during thunderstorms. I know quite a few people in fisheries and they say that quite a bit.

[88_2000]

great post! thanks

[Cliff Wagenbach]

88 2000,

Welcome to FM and the Vermilion forum!

Cliff